Siroe

"Siroe, re di Persia" (or "Siroes, King of Persia") is an opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Pietro Metastasio's Siroe. Like all of Metastasio's libretti, it was also set by Handel's contemporaries, ex. Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Adolf Hasse.

It was Handel's 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music. It was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni.

Performance history

The opera was first given under the direction of the composer at the King's Theatre in London on 17 February 1728 and it was also seen in Brunswick. It was rediscovered and performed in Gera in December 1925.

Roles

ources

* [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=17&Mese=02&Anno=1728&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa Amadeus Almanac, accessed 5 June 2008]
*citation|first=Winton|last=Dean|title=Handel's Operas, 1726-1741|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2006
id=ISBN 1843832682 The second of the two volume definitive reference on the operas of Handel
*Hicks, Anthony, "Siroe", "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7